Diamond Dogs Post 8-5 Victory Over Northwestern State

Wednesday, May 12

Starkville

6:30 PM

Mississippi State

21-28

Northwestern State

29-19

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northwestern State	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	5	12	0
Mississippi State	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	1	X	8	11	0

Diamond Dogs Post 8-5 Victory Over Northwestern State

May 12, 2010 | Baseball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

• Official Statistics
• Official Statistics (PDF)

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Connor Powers' RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a tie as Mississippi State went on to defeat Northwestern State 8-5 in a college baseball game played at Dudy Noble Field.

With the victory, M-State made it 7-0 all-time versus the Southland Conference-based Demons. The Bulldogs also snapped a school-record 11-game losing streak. MSU improved to 21-28, while Northwestern State fell to 29-19.

"We competed well today," MSU head coach John Cohen said. "We took a step today, a little step but definitely a step we needed to take. I thought we played well at times tonight."

The teams carried a 1-all pitchers' dual into the home half of the seventh inning. In that frame, the Bulldogs bats finally caught fire, tallying six runs on four hits and a pair of walks.

Jonathan Ogden began the uprising with a leadoff walk. Nick Vickerson advanced Ogden with a sacrifice bunt attempt. Luke Adkins drew a walk. Powers followed with his hit back up the middle, plating Ogden with the eventual game-winner.

Russ Sneed followed with his ninth home run of the season - a massive three-run shot deep into the left field lounge area. Ryan Collins followed that blast with a single. Collins took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored when Ryan Duffy reached on a dropped third strike.

Sam Frost followed with an RBI-double to the left center gap.

Northwestern State answered with four runs in the top half of the eighth inning. An RBI-single by Justin Martinez and two-run double by Chase Lyles were the big blows in the inning.

The Bulldogs then plated a critical insurance score on a wild pitch in the home half of the eighth inning.

Sneed also had his hand in the Bulldogs' first run in the first inning. Luke Adkins began things with a one-out single. After a popup, Sneed followed with a double down the left field line.

Northwestern State battled back with their its lone score in the second inning. Trevor Geist and Chris Hebert had back-to-back one-out doubles for the Demons. Hebert's hit easily scored Geist. A lineout and groundout worked the Bulldogs out of that threat.

The Bulldogs finished with 11 hits. Powers, Sneed, Collins and Frost each had multiple hits. Sneed had his second four-RBI game of the season. Meanwhile, the go-ahead run was Powers' 202nd career RBI - tying him with Travis Chapman for sixth all-time in the M-State record book.

The Demons finished 12 hits. Oscar Garcia had three hits, while Tyler Baisley also had multiple hits.

Caleb Reed (1-5) worked 2.2 innings in relief to earn the win. Reed worked the Bulldogs out of a two-on, no-out situation in the sixth inning but was touched for all four runs in the eighth inning. Chad Girodo started and worked five innings, allowing seven hits and one run. Trey Johnson closed out the win and earned his first save.

Andrew Plotkin (3-3) took the loss. Mason Melotakis started but was lifted during a brief MSU threat in the sixth inning.

MSU closes the home portion of their 2010 schedule with a weekend Southeastern Conference series against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs and Commodores are slated to start at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Senior Day festivities will be held prior to the Saturday contest.